System of handling can bodies



.1 192' Aug P. H. LANGE SYSTEM OF HANDLING CAN BODIES Filed Jan/17,

Q m U N 4? hmi N i INVENTOR A 4/ 1 ATTORNEY ""1',639;5'1'2 Aug. 16, 1927 I R LANGE SYSTEM OF HAN DLI NG CAN BODIES Filed Jan. 17, SL925 s Sheefs-Shee-c 2 I'NVENTOR ATTORNEY Aug. H}. 1927.

H- LANG SYSTEM OF HANDLINGCAN BODIES Filed Jan] 17, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 f INVENTOR BY W ATTORNEY Aug.'1 6 1927.

P. H. LANGE SYSTEM OF HANDLING CAN BODIES Filed Jan.l7, 1925 s sheets-sheet 4 ATTORNEY 192 Aug 7 i P. H. LANGE SYSTEM OF HANDLING CAN 'BODIES F iled Jan. i7, 1925 5 Sheets- She et 5 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 16,1927. I

UNITED STATES 1,639,512 PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL H. LANGE, F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE MAX AMS 1V[A-- CHINE COMPANY, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SYSTEM or HANDLING CAN Bonms.

Application filed January 17, 1925. Serial No. 2,989.

The present invention relates generally to 7 systems of handling the bodies of tin cans or the like. Machines for making the bodies can run very much faster than machines for heading, i. e. applying covers to bodies, and,

as a result of this, it is theoretically economical to couple a plurality of headingmachines 15 at the proper time, the loss in production is relatively large and renders the coupling up of several heading machines to a body former of doubtful value. I

It is the object of the present invention to 20 overcome these difliculties and the main, al-' though not the exclusive, feature of the in v vention is so to group and arrange the de- Vices that stoppage of one machine will not interfere with the operation of the system as 5 a whole.

In the accompanying'drawings the invention is disclosed in a concrete and preferred form in which: Figs. 1 and 1 together constitute a dia 0 grammatic plan view of a system embodying one form'of the invention.

Fig. 2 is'an enlargedfront elevation of one form of lip-ending device. A

Fig. 3 is atop plan view of one form of a distributor by means of which the bodies are taken from the main conveyor and fed to separate conveyors leading to different heading machines. Y Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view on-the plane of irregular line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view on the plane of line 55 of Fig. 3. v Fig. 6 is a transverse. vertical sectional view on the plane of line 66 of Fig.7 3.

1 indicates a main central feeding device or conveyor of conventional type which may be the out-feed conveyor, or a continuation thereof, of a body'forming machine. Said conveyor is adapted to feed bodies 2'in a constant procession, the bodies being here in re cumbent position. The bodies come against stop or gage 3 and rest upon table- 4, the conveyor having a downward dip as at.5 (Fig.

I d 4) so as to move beneath the body. 6 is a distributing device that reciprocates transversely over table 4 and moves alternate bodies in opposite directions to separate auxiliary feeding devices or conveyors 7 and 8 that are arranged in parallel, so to speak, or that constitute multiple branches of the main conveyor. '9 and 10 indicate two heading machines of a well-lmown construction, said machines having rotatable turrets and an automatic cover feed mechanism, the latter in dicated at 11. In case it is desired to apply covers to both ends of'the body, as in friction top cans, there may be other heading machines, such as 12 and 13 in series, so to speak, with machines 9 and 10, and the machines are then arranged in two independent groupswith the machines of each group in series, there being body-feeding devices 14' and-15 between machines of the same group. In the present instance the distributing device is constructed as follows: (Figs. 3,4, 5 and 6) distributing member 6 is mounted on a slide 17 adapted to reciprocate on transversely extending rail 18. 19 is a support having side beams 20 carrying the slide rail and also supporting cross beam 21. Carried by the cross beam is an adjustable friction plate 22 between which'and table 4 the can bodyslides.v 23 are spring friction plates, also carried by the cross beam, beneath which the bodies slide as they pass fromthe main conveyor to auxiliary conveyorsf Any suitable actuating means may be providedfor effecting reciprocation of slide 17 but in the present instance these means take the following form: motion isimparted to crank disc 24 bymeans of bevel gears 25 and 26. Disc 24 and gear 26 are mounted on a stub shaft 27. 28 is a rockshaft mounted in the framework and provided with a connection 29 attached vto theslide by means of link 30. Rockshaft 28 also carries a slotted guide 31. 32 is another rockshaft also mounted in the framework and hav ng an arm33 pivotally connected to links 34 and 35, the former of which is connected to crank pin 36 of disc 24 and the latter of which carries asquare block 37 sliding'in slotted guide 31. It will now beunderstood that rotation of the crank disc causesoscillation of links 34 and thereby causing block 37 to slide in guide 31 and thereby also causing rockshaft 28 to oscillate which, i in turn, im'parts motion to 'arm 29 and link 30 thereby causing reciprocation of slide 17.

It will be understood that the parts are so timed that member 16 is at one side of a body arriving against stop 3 and that its transverse travel will move said body, say, to conveyor 7 and that on its return movement it will move the next body to conveyor 8. Should there be a stoppage of conveyor 8 so that a body is not removed by said conveyors, then the next body arriving will crowdthe first body out of the machine as shown in Fig. 5, there being a by-pass at that point. If desired a gate 38 hinged at the top on bracket 39 carried by the side beam may be provided at each side of the machine and this gate will act as a guide or stop, its weight being sufficient to accomplish this purpose but not sufficient to prevent a body, under the influence of member 6, from being pushed out of the machine. It'will now be understood that should a stoppage occur in conveyor. 8, the bodies will be thrown out of the machine through the by-pass and the action of conveyor 7 will not be affected and vice versa." At the termination of conveyor 7 is an tip-ending de vice 40 consisting here of a star wheel that has a progressive intermittent motion, the body coming to rest in a recumbent position on one of the arms of said device (Fig. 2). A quarter turn of 40 brings the body into an upright position and a pusher 41 actuated by a suitable cam moves the body in upright position into the turret of a heading machine. The details of this feature of the machine are disclosed in application Ser. No.

. 602,505 filed November 22, 1922. There is a by-pass also at this point in the system, and it will be understood that should pusher 41 for some reason fail to operate, the next quarter turn. of up-ending device 40 will Preferably the action of the pusher is governed by a detector 42 that permits action of the pusher so long as a cover 43, from the cover stack or feeding device 11, passes a given point at a given time but, should there be no cover, the pusher will not operate and the body will be ejected. It will be understood that there is a similar arrangement at the infeeding point of each heading Ina-- chine. 1

At the exit end of machine 9, the body, with cover attached, slides over table 44 in an upright position and said table is cut away so that at the proper moment the body becomes overbalanced and falls in a recumbent position on conveyor 14 that leads to the next machine in series with the first. Should--conveyor 14 fail to take away the body, it will be ejected through the by-pass located at the outfeed point of machine 9-by the next succeeding body. Conveyor 14 feeds the recumbent body to an up-ending' device 40 and a pusher 41 located adjacent the in-feed point of machine 12, the construction here being the same as that previously described in connection with machine 9. jThe body is, however, here upended reversely from its position inmachine 9 so that a cover may be attached to its I claim 1. A system of handling bodies including:

two heading machines, a main body-feeding device to advance a procession of bodies, two auxiliary body-feeding devices'arranged in parallel and each including one ofthe heading machines, a distributing device to separate the procession of bodies and to feed them to the auxiliary body-feeding devices,

and a bypass associated with each auxiliary body-feeding device through which excess bodies will be discharged by the distributing device in case of interruption in the normal operation of an auxiliary feeding device.

2. A system of handling'bodies including:

devices for each machine, a common source of supply to deliver bodies to the separatefeeding devices, and a by-pass, associated with each of the separate feeding devices, through which excess bodies will be discharged in case of interruption in the-normal operation of a feeding device to thereby admit of the uninterrupted operation of the other feeding device. e

3. A system of handling bodies including: two heading machines operating independently of each other, means for feeding bodies to said machines from a commonsource, and means whereby an interruption in the nortwo heading machines, separate body-feeding mal operation of one of said machines causes the discharge of bodies to thereby admit uninterrupted feeding of bodies to the other machine.

4. .A system of handling bodies including:

two heading machines operating indepen ently of each other, means for feeding bodies to said machines from a common source, and by-passes associated with said feedin means 7 through which excess bodies will e discharged in case of interruption in the normal operation of one of said machines to thereby admit uninterrupted operation of the other machine. I

5. A system of handling bodies including: two heading machines, separate bodyfeeding' devices for each machine, a common I sourceof supply to deliver bodies to the separate feeding devices, a by-pass at the beginning and end of each separate feeding device through which excess bodies will be discharged in case of interruption in the norchine to the other and a by-pass through which excess bodies will be discharged in case of interruption of the normal operation of the feeding device.

7. A system of handling bodies including: two heading machines arranged in series, a body-feeding device from one heading machine to the other, and a by-pass through which excess bodies will be discharged from the feeding device in case of interruption of the normal operation of the second heading machine to' thereby admit of the uninterrupted operation of the first heading machine.

8. A system of handling bodies including: two heading machines arranged in series, a body-feeding device from one heading machine to the other, and a by-pass' at each end of the body-feeding device through which excess bodies will be discharged in case of interruption of the normal operation of the feeding device or of the second machine.

9. A system of handling bodies including: a plurality of heading machines arranged in parallel in two groups, the machines of each group being in series, separate feeding devices for each group, a common source of supply of bodies, a distributing device to separate the bodies from the common source and to feed them to the separate feeding devices, and by-passes through which excess bodies will be discharged in case of interruption of the normal operation of one group of nachines or the feeding devices thereof to thereby admit of uninterrupted operation of the other group or in case of interruption of one of the machines or a feeding device of a group to thereby admit of uninterrupted operation of another machine of the same group.

10. A system of handling bodies including: a heading machine, an infeed conveyor, an outfeed conveyor, and a by-pass between the infeed conveyor and the machine and the outfeed conveyor and the machine through which excess bodies may be discharged.

Signed at Bridgeport in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, this 15th day of January, 1925.

PAUL H. LANGE. 

